Best personal finance money tips for beginners and more bits…

Best personal finance money tips for beginners Q: How do I get started learning about personal finance? Is there a book I should read? And where can I find a financial adviser? I have trust issues with the people in those fields because I just don’t believe they’ll have my best interests in mind. Please help. Keep reading…

Why Saving for Retirement Is More Important Than Saving for College It’s funny to think about how much our financial perspectives change as we go through life. When I was young, I thought anyone with extra money was rich. In high school, I envied my classmates whose uniforms always looked brand new and who could afford LL Bean backpacks and Adidas gym shoes. (When you go to a Catholic school and wear a uniform, the extent of your style expression lies solely on your bag and shoes. And, of course, how perfectly ironed your pleated wool skirt is.) Keep reading…

Should you let your boss make your 401k picks? A number of companies, concerned that their employees’ retirement investments are too risky or not risky enough, are overriding some employees’ investment picks and substituting the company’s choices. The ease of letting an employer take the wheel appeals to some investors who feel they haven’t got the nerve or knowledge to make investment decisions or can’t find the time. But there are downsides. Keep reading…

4 Ways to Ruin Your Retirement Plan Saving for retirement is a journey that can easily span a few decades. And there are so many uncontrollable variables that it’s impossible to come up with the perfect plan. You need to decide how much to save in order to sustain your lifestyle in retirement and choose the right asset allocation and investments, even though you don’t know how long you will live or how those investments will perform. However, there are some mistakes that almost always make you worse off in retirement. Here are four retirement planning errors to avoid: Keep reading…

Some advice about TIPS What are TIPS exactly? I’ve heard good and bad about them. Also, I have a 403(b) and have recently resigned from my teaching job. I will not have to withdraw any money from it for a year. Right now I have half invested in bonds and half in medium-risk annuities. Should I continue with that or should I put some in interest-earning guaranteed savings? Keep reading…